Gonzales' Press Spokesman Kept in Dark on Resignation?

By: The Associated Press and E&P Staff Attorney General Albert Gonzales confirmed in a brief statement to the press this morning that he will be leaving his position on September 17.

He called his service ?one of his greatest privileges.? He offered no reasons for the sudden resignation, and no questions were allowed.

For months, both Republican and Democratic critics have called on Gonzales to vacate his seat over warrantless wiretapping and the firing of U.S. attorneys.

During the congressional investigation into whether there were political motives in the firing of the attorneys, Democrats repeatedly hinted that Gonzales was lying.

Gonzales maintained the dismissals were based on the prosecutors' lackluster performances.

His likely temporary replacement is Solicitor General Paul Clement.

Gonzales is the fourth top-level Bush administration official to leave since the Democrats were swept into power in Congress in the November elections.

The New York Times, which first carried the scoop, reports: "As recently as Sunday afternoon, Mr. Gonzales was denying through his press spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse, that he intended to leave. Mr. Roehrkasse said Sunday afternoon that he had telephoned Mr. Gonzales about the reports circulating in Washington that a resignation was imminent, 'and he said it wasn?t true, so I don?t know what more I can say.'

"White House spokesmen also insisted on Sunday that they did not believe that Mr. Gonzales was planning to resign. Aides to senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said over the weekend that they had received no suggestion from the administration that Mr. Gonzales intended to resign."

Rumors had spread all weekend about a possible departure, though not quite this soon. Some floated Michael Chertoff as a possible successor.

The Times, in an update later this morning, added the following: "A senior administration official said today that Gonzales, who was in Washington, had called the president in Crawford, Tex., on Friday to offer his resignation. The president rebuffed the offer, but said the two should talk face to face on Sunday.

"Gonzales and his wife flew to Texas, and over lunch on Sunday the president accepted the resignation with regret, the official said.

"On Saturday night, Gonzales was contacted by his press spokesman to ask how the department should respond to inquiries from reporters about rumors of his resignation, and Gonzales told the spokesman to deny the reports."

The Times' blog, The Lede, summed it up this way: "The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, reported this morning in The Times, appears to have achieved the distinction of being both highly expected and, somehow, not expected all."